Abstract
The master equation is quantized. This is an example of quantization of a gauge theory with nilpotent generators. No ghosts are needed for the generation of a gauge algebra. The point about nilpotent generators is that one can not write down a single functional integral for this theory. Instead, one has to write down a product of two coupled functional integrals and take a square root. In a special gauge where the gauge conditions are commuting, the functional integrals decouple and one recovers the known result.
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References
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Vilkovisky, G.A. Master Equation in the General Gauge: On the Problem of Infinite Reducibility. Letters in Mathematical Physics 49, 123–130 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007699922739
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007699922739